The Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale

Dave’s Picks

Main Card

Michael Bisping vs. Jason Miller: This is an interesting fight because there are some unknowns. Miller is the major question mark in this fight. He hasn’t fought in over a year, he hasn’t fought any of the same opponents that Bisping has and he hasn’t fought in the UFC in over 6 years. I’m very sure that Bisping will have the superior standup and takedowns. However, Miller should have the better takedown defense and ground game. So, it’s an interesting blend. But if I was Miller I would take this to the ground quick because Bisping will be able to outpoint him to a decision victory. This is five rounds and only Miller has gone that distance before (his fight with Jake Shields). Should be a fun match = Bisping by unanimous decision.

Dennis Bermudez vs. Diego Brandao ("TUF 14" featherweight finale): I called before the beginning of the show that Diego would win the featherweight tournament. He has a great skill set and his only downside is his cardio. However, I don’t know if he will ever be a force in the UFC but time will tell. Dennis on the other hand, I truly believe will find some success in the UFC due to his decent wrestling, as long as he works on his standup. However, Dennis got caught several times by Akira and Diego is ten times better than Akira = Diego by tko in round 2. My Pick for KO of the Night!

John Dodson vs. T.J. Dillashaw ("TUF 14" bantamweight finale): I also called that TJ would win the bantamweight tournament before the show started. A big strong wrestler with decent standup from the Alpha Male camp will always get my vote. He looks and fights like an Urijah Faber or a Joseph Benavidez or a Chad Mendes. I think both Dodson and TJ will be forces in the bantamweight division. Dodson has some insane athletic ability with power in his punches and an incredible low center of gravity; which makes it very difficult to take him down. This fight is a little hard to call but I’m going with my early pick = TJ Dillashaw by unanimous decision. My Pick is for Fight of the Night!

Yves Edwards vs. Tony Ferguson: In this fight anything can happen. Edwards will have the more technical striking and has the experience advantage. Tony should have the striking power advantage. Yves probably has the upper hand on the ground game. Not too sure on this one = Tony Ferguson by split decision.

Johnny Bedford vs. Louis Gaudinot: This should be a fun fight with a lot of good grappling. I think this fight will be based on who gets the takedowns. Bedford had a very hard time getting Dodson to the ground but Louis is no Dodson = Bedford by split decision.

Prelims

Marcus Brimage vs. Stephan Bass: Brimage by KO in round 1.

John Albert vs. Dustin Pague: Pague by submission in round 2. My Pick for Submission of the Night!

Roland Delorme vs. Josh Ferguson: Ferguson by TKO in round 1.

Josh Clopton vs. Steven Siler: Siler by unanimous decision.

Bryan Caraway vs. Dustin Neace: Caraway by split decision.

Sam’s Picks:

Main Card
Michael Bisping vs. Jason Miller: I want to start by saying that I really, really don’t like Bisping anymore. He’s turned into an overconfident, arrogant, and homophobic psycho crybaby. He whines and complains about everything and is a dick to everybody and someone else is a dick to him, he freaks out. He was constantly giving Miller crap and Miller was actually being a nice guy, doing the “I do the talking in the cage” method. Anyway, let’s talk about the fight. Miller has’t fought in over a year which could be a pretty big factor in how this plays out. We don’t know how the ring-rust will have an effect on him. Bisping, though, has come off a heated bout with Jorge Rivera, looking rather impressive. It’s a hard fight to pick but I’m going to go with my gut, which could be a bad idea = Miller by unanimous decision.

Dennis Bermudez vs. Diego Brandao: Diego is insane, in the bad way. He is an insane fighter but he is literally INSANE. He is possibly the most emotional person I have ever seen. He gets so angry at the drop of a hat. Saying Dennis Bermudez, who is a really nice guy, was talking crap when he wasn’t? I don’t get him but he is a really scary dude. Bermudez has huge heart, he doesn’t give up and he has really good wrestling and standup. I have a really huge feeling that Diego will gas out if it goes out of the first round. Bermudez needs to get this fight to the ground and ride out a decision, not exciting but smart = Bermudez by unanimous decision.

John Dodson vs. TJ Dillashaw: Now this is an exciting fight. Dillashaw was my pick to win the show from the beginning, but Dodson is showing a lot of promise. Dodson is an animal, literally: looks like one, acts like one, fights like one. He has great cardio from what I saw and he has a lot technique and speed. Dillashaw has the strength and power advantage which I think will be the deciding factor in this fight = Dillashaw by split decision. My pick for FOTN!

Yves Edwards vs. Tony Ferguson: Ferguson looked great in his last fight with Aaron Riley and Yves also looked really good. One of the big deciding factors in this fight is Ferguson’s power because Yves’ chin seems to be waning after that brutal KO loss to Sam Stout = Tony Ferguson by 2nd round TKO. My pick for KOOTN!

Johnny Bedford vs. Louis Gaudinot: This should also be a good fight and I hope to see both of these guys stick in the UFC for a while. They both have a bright future = Bedford by split decision.

Prelims

Marcus Brimage vs. Stephen Bass = Bass by 1st round submission (choke). My pick for SOTN!
John Albert vs. Dustin Pague = Pague by split decision.
Roland Delorme vs. Josh Ferguson = Delorme by unanimous decision.
Josh Clopton vs. Steven Siler = Siler by 2nd round TKO.
Bryan Caraway vs. Dustin Neace = Caraway by unanimous decision.

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Quick Picks: Bellator 59

Dave’s Picks

Main Card

Eric Prindle vs. Thiago Santos: Prindle by TKO in round 2.

Eduardo Dantas vs. Alexis Vila: Vila by unanimous decision.

Patricky Freire vs. Kurt Pellegrino: Freire by split decision.

Marcin Held vs. Phillipe Nover: Held by submission in round 2.

Sam’s Picks

Main Card

Eric Prindle vs. Thiago Santos: Prindle by split decision.

Eduardo Dantas vs. Alexis Vila: Vila by unanimous decision.

Patricky Freire vs. Kurt Pellegrino: Kurt by split decision.

Marcin Held vs. Phillipe Nover: Held by submission in round 1.

UFC 139 Recap

Sam's Recap

Before I start with the main card, I’m going to point out the most impressive people from the prelims. First, Chris Weidman, who I think will be a very big threat for every middleweight, won in devastating fashion by choking out a game Tom Lawlor with a beautiful d’arce choke at 2:07 of the first round. Even though I knew that Weidman would win, I had no idea he would run through Lawlor so easily. This was a good lead-in to the Spike prelims, for a couple of quick KO’s. Michael McDonald, the youngest fighter in the UFC who I believe will have a very bright future ahead of him, absolutely destroyed the new up and comer, Alex Soto, in only 56 seconds. Soto seemed to be a pretty good challenge for McDonald but he proved me right that he has something special, the skill to be a future champ at the bantamweight division. After watching a young lion trying to prove himself to the world, we watched another young lion hungry to get back into title contention after losing two straight fights by guillotine. Ryan Bader KO’d the not-so-game Jason Brilz in a quick 1:17 of the first round, showing us that the old Ryan Bader may be back but that loss to Tito Ortiz will forever haunt him.

I was amazed that the most boring fight of the whole card was Stephan Bonnar’s. Not only was he in the fight, one of the most exciting fighters in the sport, but also Kyle Kingsbury, who is also a very exciting fighter. Now, I’m not disappointed in Bonnar, don’t get me wrong, I’m actually quite proud of him. He fought smart. When was the last time that we saw Stephan Bonnar fight smart? He knew that he had a better ground game than Kingsbury and he exploited that. If there was anything that I would be disappointed about was the fact that he didn’t finish the fight when he had multiple opportunities for submissions.

In that the fight between Kampmann and Story was going to be one of the closest fights on the card and I was right. Although Story looked really good in the opening frame of the fight, he clearly gassed himself out by trying to just barrage his way through a victory against Kampmann but, to Story’s dismay, Kampmann is one tough dude, and one hell of a fighter. Kampmann showed that he is ready for another title run in the welterweight division.

In probably the most impressive performance to date, Urijah seemed to be back to his good ol’ days when looked very impressive with his standup to then finish Bowles with a guillotine choke, to earn himself another crack at Dominick Cruz. One of the most impressive ways you can beat someone I by absolutely dominate them on the feet, rock them, and then finish them off with a submission. Showing that you are better then them at every aspect of the game. Urijah proved to us that he is a new and improved “California Kid” who is ready to settle this with Dominick Cruz in the very anticipated rubber match they will have later in 2012. TUF coaches anyone?

Usually on every event there is a fight that I would prefer to get wrong: Nog vs. Schaub, Hughes vs. Koscheck, Cro Cop vs. Nelson, etc., most of the time, it’s a fight with a fading legend we all think should just retire. But when they actually win their fight, it makes me happy. In this instance, Wanderlai Silva vs. Cung Le. I hated the idea of this fight. I wanted Wanderlai to retire after his fight with Leben but, of course, he said no. Instead he showed that he still has the old Wnaderlai still hidden somewhere deep down inside of him and the vintage Wanderlai came out and rocked the HP Pavilion with a brutal TKO victory over Cung Le. I was so happy that he won his fight, he looked so happy, everyone (except for Le and his team) were happy. Who doesn’t love Wanderlai? He’s one of the most entertaining fighters in the history of combat sports and he is also one of the nicest guys in MMA? Who doesn’t like that combination? Anyway, Wanderlai looked awesome, I just hope he retires on a high note.

It’s hard for to start to talk about the main event this past Saturday, it was so good and so exciting and so thrilling, words just can’t do it a justice. Yes, it was that good a fight. You should be very disappointed in yourself if you missed it. An absolute slugfest from the very beginning. The first three rounds were Henderson racking Shogun into oblivion with his enormous right hands with Shogun barely able to keep his composure and still some how come back from near defeat to back Henderson into the cage and continue to punch him. The first three rounds were all Henderson with the third round being one that could be argued as a 10-8. After the first two rounds, Shogun was definitely the fresher fighter going into each round. In the fourth round, Shogun found the sweet spot on that rock hard chin of Henderson’s and rocked him badly. Henderson was stumbling all over the place barely keeping his balance while Shogun continued to punch him right on his chin. After Henderson gathered back his equilibrium, Shogun took him down, battered him a little bit and then Henderson sweeps him onto his back, it was quite amazing. In the fifth round, Shogun came out and immediately took Henderson down and battered him for the entire fifth round, I don’t think Henderson landed a single punch. Now this is the most controversial part of this legendary, “fight of the century” candidate just had to have. Henderson won on every single card 48-47, while most of the MMA world thought it should have been a 47-47 draw. I am part of the people who believe it should have been a draw; Henderson gets the first three rounds, Shogun gets the 4th and 5th with the latter being a 10-8 round. After all this talk of how it should’ve been a draw, how about a rematch? I’m game for that rematch.

UFC 139 Predictions

Dave’s Picks

Main Card

Dan Henderson vs. Shogun Rua: This is a very tough fight to call for me. Henderson is old and fading and his chin seems to be a little bit as well. However, I am never confident Shogun can ever come out and look like the destroyer he can be. In my opinion Henderson should have the better overall cardio and if he can drag this out by using his superior wrestling than he can grind Shogun down and then finish him late. However, Henderson never tries to wrestle and only looks for his right hand bomb to land. What Shogun needs to do is use his kicks and pick his shots wisely. He needs to circle to his own right like his life depends on it and it might! :0)  But Shogun just needs to use some precise strikes, take out Hendo’s legs and eventually land a good knee in the clinch to finish him off. But which possibility will become a reality? = Dan Henderson by TKO in round 2.

Cung Le vs. Wanderlei Silva: I would love this fight if it were in a movie or video game because then no one would get hurt. I am very worried for Silva here. His chin has looked extremely weak for about 5 years. Cung Le has extremely accurate striking and thunderous kicks. If he lands a solid kick to Silva’s head it could mean retirement = Cung Le by KO in round 1. My Pick for KO of the Night!

Brian Bowles vs. Urijah Faber: This will be an important fight for the bantamweight division and should be exciting. Bowles is a little slower but has the more dangerous striking. Faber is bigger, stronger, faster and has the better grappling. This fight is mainly based on whether Faber can get those takedowns and keep it on the ground or if Bowles can land a bomb and end it early = Faber by unanimous decision.

Martin Kampmann vs. Rick Story: This will be a rough grinding fight. Story was on a major roll and beat a few big names; mean while, Kampmann has been hovering around title contention for years. Kampmann will have the better striking and submissions but Story will have the speed, strength and wrestling advantage. Story will have to corner Kampmann and rough him up on the cage and then get the takedown. Kampmann will want to use his reach and be able to make it a boxing match. = Story by split decision.

Stephan Bonnar vs. Kyle Kingsbury: Another tough fight to pick (most of the card is pretty tough). This should be a barnburner. Both guys go to war and have great chins. These guys are both decently well-rounded but Bonnar will have the BJJ advantage. However, Kingsbuy is a high-caliber athlete who is good at adjusting during fights. This one is really tough = Kingsbury by unanimous decision. My Pick for Fight of the Night!

Prelims

Ryan Bader v. Jason Brilz: Bader by unanimous decision.

Michael McDonald vs. Alex Soto: McDonald by unanimous decision.

Tom Lawlor vs. Chris Weidman: Weidman by unanimous decision.

Nick Pace vs. Miguel Torres: Torres by submission in round 2. My Pick for Submission of the Night!

Rafael dos Anjos vs. Gleison Tibau: Tibau by split decision.

Seth Baczynski vs. Matt Brown: Seth by unanimous decision.

Shamar Bailey vs. Danny Castillo: Castillo by TKO in round 3.

Sam’s Picks

Main Card
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Dan Henderson: A perfect legend versus legend fight that seems to should’ve happen way back in the Pride days. Shogun is very hungry for a rematch against Jon Jones, which was very apparent after his violent KO of Forrest Griffin. I am very happy to see Henderson back in the UFC, where he belongs. This fight is definitely not going to a judges decision, I mean, it’s five rounds with two KO artists constantly going for the KO. I don’t see Henderson getting KO… ever. He has an abnormally good chin and he shows every one of his fights. Shogun also has a good chin but he can still be TKO’d. Henderson has the better power and chin and that is very important for this fight = Henderson by 3rd round TKO. My pick for KOOTN

Wanderlai Silva vs. Cung Le: Wanderlai Silva needs to retire, badly. I am really nervous for this fight, I don’t like seeing Wanderlai get KO’d and it is inevitable in this fight. I am very happy to see Cung Le in the UFC now but he got a fight I don’t like = Le by 2nd round KO.

Urijah Faber vs. Brian Bowles: An awesome number one contender fight for the bantamweight division. This is a fight that I really wanted to see when I heard that Faber was going to drop down to 135. Bowles is a bantamweight beast and wants a rematch with Cruz more than anything. Although I don’t think either of them will have a chance of beating Cruz, this is a really good fight = Faber by unanimous decision.

Martin Kampann vs. Rick Story: This is an interesting fight that I personally think is the hardest one to pick the winner of. Story is coming off an embarrassing loss from Charlie Brennemen. Kampann on the other hand has not fought in a very long time so we will see how the ring rust will have an effect on Martin, I have a feeling that it won’t be so good = Story by unanimous decision.

Stephan Bonnar vs. Kyle Kingsbury: This is going to be a super good fight. I guarantee it. Both these guys like to slug it out and both of them have been looking good lately so its also going to be a close fight. Kingsbury got a bright future and I think that Bonnar’s time as a potential title contender has passed = Kingsbury by split decision. My pick for FOTN!

Prelims

Ryan Bader vs. Jason Brilz = Bader by split decision
Michael McDonald vs. Alex Soto = McDonald by 2nd round TKO
Tom Lawlor vs. Chris Weidman = Weidman by unanimous decision
Nick Pace vs. Miguel Torres = Torres by 2nd round submission (Choke). My pick for SOTN!
Rafael dos Anjos vs. Gleison Tibau = Tibau by unanimous decision
Seth Baczynski vs. Matt Brown = Brown by 2nd round TKO
Shamar Bailey vs. Danny Castillo = Bailey by split decision

UFC on FOX Recap

So, I know that its a few days late but I’m going to do a little recap here. First off I have been watching UFC since the time Sam (my brother and the other writer of this blog) was born! I have loved watching it mature into the most amazing form of martial art combat ever. I have waited for the day it would make it onto a public broadcasting station for a long time. I am a “member” of the hardcore MMA followers and many of them said things like “we don’t need this” and “this is ‘our’ sport”. Oh please. If you truly loved this sport then you would want everyone else in the world to be able to see it and love it as well.

I thought the broadcast was amazingly well done and hearing the classic FOX sports theme music on top of a UFC broadcast blew my mind! It was amazing. Having a heavyweight title fight was the best choice because people have a natural proclivity towards heavyweight fights even if they don’t watch boxing or MMA frequently. Maybe its Hollywood’s doing with movies like Rocky or boxing’s past with greats like Ali, Frazier and Foreman. But people love heavyweight bouts and title bouts.

So, I thought that Velasquez vs. Dos Santos was the perfect match. They both having exciting standup with power and Cain has great wrestling with big slams; which are all great for a highlight matchup. The fight itself was how I called it in my prediction and I was not surprised that JDS won by KO. It was exciting and the broadcast made it even more exciting by giving a great background story about Cain and JDS’ lives.

My only problem was the fact that they missed out on having the Guida vs. Henderson fight airing on FOX. It was a Fight of the Year candidate and could have been a major resource in recruiting new fans. I’m just glad I got to see it on Facebook.

Overall, it was a great night for me, all the fans, the UFC and most importantly the sport of MMA as a whole. It had emotion, energy, magic and great martial arts. I can say once again that I am proud to be a diehard and long time fan of this wonderful sport.